It is physical, sometimes frantic and often loud — and it has emerged as one of the most promising suicide prevention programs for young Indigenous kids in Australia.

It is called Drumbeat and it uses drums as a focal point in workshops run for children who have anger or anxiety issues or who show signs of being at risk of harm.

"I have never seen a child it hasn't helped," said Rebecca Arbon, a Drumbeat facilitator.

The program was designed in Western Australia 13 years ago to meet the needs of youth at risk and it now runs across the country for children aged nine to 17.

Ms Arbon, who runs workshops in the Northern Territory, said each half-hour session focuses on a theme.

"We'll play the drums with a focus on what we've been talking about. It's that relationship between what you actually need to be able to play well on the drums together and how that actually relates back to real life," she said.

She believes the program works well for Indigenous students because it takes learning out of a classroom setting.

"You're asking students to explore things that can at times be difficult, or that might touch a personal nerve or they've never told anyone before," she said.

"Having the music, having the movement — I think that works well with a lot of our Indigenous students."

Drumming helps children to express themselves

Shylie Young went through the program with a group of Year 8 girls last year.

She said it helped her learn how to express herself.

"I've got anger problems. I can get really angry really quickly and being able to express myself with the drums and in a group to be able to trust each other and know that you have somewhere to go when you want to get away or to calm down," Shylie said.

She said the drums were key to the impact of the program.

"If you did it without the drums it wouldn't be the same because you wouldn't be able to express yourself as much," she said.

The co-chair of a national research project into Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander suicide prevention, Professor Pat Dudgeon, said Drumbeat works for young people because it is fun.

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Professor Dudgeon and her team are evaluating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander suicide prevention programs across Australia.

They identified Drumbeat as one of six projects "showing [the] most promising results for suicide prevention for Indigenous children".

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare figures from 2015 showed suicide was the leading cause of death for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians aged 15 to 34, accounting for one in three deaths.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teenagers in Australia are four times more likely to die from suicide than their non-Indigenous peers.